This invention relates to an inclined retaining wall for retaining and securing the slope of an inclined piece of terrain, comprising a plurality of horizontal rows of prism-shaped elements which rows of elements are superimposed one upon the other in a relationship staggered rearwardly in upward direction. The invention also relates to a prism-shaped element which is usable in upright position in the aforesaid retaining wall.
Such walls are used especially to retain and secure road escarpments, garden terrasses or the like having steep angles of slope which require securing against sliding or slumping of the soil.
Conventional walls serving to prevent this are made of various types of concrete or as solid masonry made of freestones or ashlars, preferably bound with mortar.
Instead of a solid masonry, structures of slope-securing walls are also known which give an optical impression of being lighter and which permit the planting of flowers and the like in the masonry, for instance walls built of concrete lozenges wherein each lozenge has a window.
However, solid walls in particular are expensive as they require large amounts of material and always create a foreign, and hence often a disturbing impression in an otherwise natural landscape. Their use in conserving natural slopes of terrain, e.g. in National Parks is therefore often problematic.
It is also known to use individual shell or bucket structures. These structures are satisfactory where the slope is not too steep and/or the pressure of the terrain behind the wall is not too high and where only small plants are to be planted on the slope.
A further known type of slope-securing means comprises a wall or cover made of concrete slabs at least some of which are provided with anchoring means. However, the planting of flowers, shrubs or trees in such a wall to camouflage it is difficult. Moreover, securing high slopes is rendered difficult by the fact that the structures are not sufficiently stable and slabs therein have a tendency to tilt. Furthermore, such wall structures suffer from the drawback that rupture of a slab thereof involves the risk of destruction of all slabs therebeneath by falling slab parts and soil material, thus rendering the securing of the slope in this sector illusory.